Dust to Dust
Dust to Dust is the twelfth chapter of Journey. Chapter Twelve: Dust to Dust In an unknown location, there was a circular room surrounded by torches of blue light. There were 14 grey thrones in this room all of varying heights. As of now, only two of the thrones were occupied. Lust sat crossed legged upon his throne with a bored expression. “Explain to me why I can’t go out and enjoy myself,” he asked Diligence, who sat on a throne northeast from him. “Our superior told us to remain here,” Diligence informed him while sitting straight up, although constantly giving cautious looks at the tallest throne in the room. “We wouldn’t be here if you had just worked hard and not messed around.” “Oh don’t give me that crap Mr. Workaholic,” Lust snapped, slamming his hand into his thrones armrest in the process. Before both of them could continue their bickering, laughter came from the throne to the right from tallest throne. The two looked over and saw a figure in black robes sitting there. “Oh you guys are so entertaining to watch,” a metallic voice came from beneath the robe. “Oh second in command it’s good to see you,” Diligence said with a bow. “Are you here to gloat at us,” Lust sneered? “Yep,” the figure said simply. “You guys lead the mission to retrieve a simple boy and you humiliated our happy little family. So you two are going to be in timeout for a little while, k?” “Well we would have succeeded with the mission if only you-know-who didn’t interfere,” Lust grumbled. “That’s right. Our dear human acquaintance Red Psi or better known as Phy the Phoenix,” the figure said but paused as a rumbling shook the ground. The three looked over as the throne to Diligence’s left crumbled to the ground. Diligence backed away in horror as the robed figure rolled onto their back and started laughing hysterically. “Looks like Greed finally bit the dust,” the figure choked out. “That’s good,” an unsettled Diligence said, clutching his beating heart. “But what are your plays involving the brats?” Beneath the hood, a hysterical smile rolled on the figures lips. “Oh don’t worry little brother. We have a plan to execute their capture smoothly. I can’t wait to see their faces when the see what’s in store for them.” Hotaru eyes were glued at the spot where Greed met his demise. The others were introducing themselves to Phy’s new friend Trent. The poor guy looked like was going to get overwhelmed with the struggle to remember everyone’s name. Hotaru on the other hand was struggling to remove the image from his mind. Looking at the dust on the floor kept reminding him of that incident over seven years ago. In an attempt to clear his mind, Hotaru looked away from the floor and saw Phy looking out of the broken window. He walked over and asked, “Phy how are you taking this?” “I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of kid,” Phy softly said. “I’m use to this stuff but I don’t like it.” “But I have my own question,” he added, turning to Hotaru. “Did Greed say anything important about The Remnants and its goals?” Hotaru thought back to their conversation with Greed before their imprisonment. He explained everything that he could remember. Phy was patience and listened intently without any interruptions. As Hotaru finished, Phy called the rest of the group over. “What’s up best buddy,” Trent happily asked? “Please don’t call me that,” Phy said. “Anyway based off of what Hotaru told me…we have two goals to reach.” “What are they,” Tsuyoshi asked? “I want you guys to head to the capital,” Phy said. “You’ll be safe there and I believe that The Remnants wouldn’t dare to try and pull anything there.” “Makes sense,” Izumi said. “We were on our way there to meet with one of Hotaru and Satoru’s teacher’s friend before being sidetracked to visiting Conker.” “I see. On the other hand, Trent and I will go track down this other deserter Remnant that Greed mentioned.” “So you can strike them down like you did with Greed,” Akio whispered? An uncomfortable silence filled the air. Phy coughed and said, “My intention with this one is to interrogate it for information rather than kill it dead.” “That’s sounds like a good plan,” Satoru said. “But what if we need to get in contact with you? What then?” Phy took Hotaru’s hand and pressed his palm against it. Hotaru didn’t feel a thing however leapt back in surprise as smoke came out of his hand. “What the hell did you do,” Hotaru yelped, pulling his hand out of Phy’s grip? “I marked you. That way I will be able to sense where you are as well as if I or Trent is in trouble, the mark will burn.” Hotaru looked down at his arm, where a miniature phoenix tattoo was on his palm. “Thanks I guess,” Hotaru said as the door burst open. The group looked over as Alfred was back on his feet. Alfred had tears flowing down his face as he limped over to the dust pile that was once Greed. “Master Greed this can’t be!” “Let’s go,” Phy said as the group left Alfred to mourn over their town’s “Savior.” “What’s going to happen to Conker now,” Tsuyoshi asked? “I mean now that their source of income is kind of…well dead.” “Sadly it’s going to return to the poverty town it once was once all of that gold is gone,” Izumi said. “Hopefully nothing else bad will happen to this town.” “But we didn’t even find any of the weapons that Mayor Bradley said were here,” Satoru suddenly said. “Oh that was me,” Trent said. “I found them before catching up with you guys and I was able to destroy them.” “You,” Akio asked with his eyebrows raised? “How did you pull that off?” “I gave some workers that were down there this locket that let you live forever if they would destroy all of the weapons.” “What. But you guys told me that the locket was a fake,” Tsuyoshi whined. “Now you’re telling me it’s real.” On the table next to them, Phy asked, “Hotaru I want to hear your opinion on this matter. The Remnants seem to have a very long lifespan as well as incredible strength. And it appears that they think that their next step in evolution…so what do us lower lifeforms called human have that they don’t?” Hotaru played around with his straw in his drink as he pondered this weird question. “I don’t know…I’ll have to think about it and let you know.” “I see. Well I’ll be expecting a pretty elaborate response then.” Phy then got to his feet. “Trent let’s head out.” “Oh alright,” Trent sighed as he two got to his feet. “Well I hope to see you guys again soon,” he said to the group. “Yeah take care you two,” Izumi said as the group shook hands with the duo. With one last wave of goodbye, Phy and Trent took off and disappeared into the sunset. Hotaru looked down at his drink and continued to play with his straw. He stopped as a hand pressed down onto his head. Akio said, “Pull yourself together, Hotaru. We need you to be focused and able to lead us.” “Your right,” Hotaru sighed. “It’s just I wasn’t expecting to witness someone dying this early in our journey.” “But will you still continue leading this journey despite knowing that even more deaths could just be beyond the horizon?” “Heh. You think I’m going to give up like that,” Hotaru said, getting fired up in the process. “That’s not Hotaru’s way of life and you know it.” “Come on guys let’s go get some sleep,” Hotaru added as he lead the group back to the hotel. “We have another long day of walking tomorrow.” Izumi and Satoru cheered while Tsuyoshi moaned in horror. As the group walked away, a pair of wide eyes watched their retreating backs. “Hotaru,” a quiet female voice said, watching the boy lead his friends. Trivia